This invention relates to cable spooling systems and, more particularly, relates to an electrical cable spooling system.
Present systems for winding cable onto spools, particularly on off-shore drill rigs, are permanently mounted to spools which are mechanically driven. One method is to apply an air motor with a wheel to the flange of the spool turning the spool to wind the cable on. A disadvantage of this method is that it requires two men to manually feed the cable onto the spool to get it at all even. This type of drive system is also particularly disadvantageous because excessive force can be applied to the cable even tearing the cable apart if the system is left unattended.
One system disclosed in prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,374, is described as portable but suffers from a number of drawbacks. Among these are the need for stabilizing pods or arms to stabilize the device when in use. These among other things increase the cost and the complexity of the system and limit portability. The stabilizing pods must be raised or lowered each time the spooling system is used. Another disadvantage is the use of a manually adjustable pressure relief valve which to limit the maximum pressure in a system. With this type of arrangement, the pressure is constant at the maximum pressure determined by the pressure relief valve. It does not compensate for the load on the system. An additional disadvantage is that this type of valve must be manually set or adjusted. With this type of system a constant tension is maintained on the cable being wound on the spool regardless of the load. Further, a tension sufficient to wind the cable on the spool may damage the cable if any resistance is met such as a binding or snag in the line.
An additional disadvantage is that auxiliary equipment is necessary to load and unload a spool. It would be advantageous if the system could be made self-loading.